3-day TA exhibition and conference features participants from all over the world gathering to discuss their water technologies.

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Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon asked Arab leaders to consider water as a
catalyst for peace and stressed the importance of sharing renewable
technologies, at the sixth annual international WATEC-Israel exhibition on
Tuesday.

“Israel will benefit from a peace agreement, but you will also
gain a genuine partner for development and the assured welfare of future
generations in the region,” he said to Arab leaders at the exhibition’s opening
session.

“Unfortunately, many times in the history of the region, water
was a reason for conflict and bloodshed,” he continued.

“Today, I want to
change this equation together with you, to turn water into a bridge to
peace.”

The three-day Tel Aviv exhibition and coinciding conference
features participants from all over the world, with more than 30 heads of state
and ministers, as well as 150 business delegations, gathering to discuss their
water technologies, renewable energy systems and environmental control,
according to the Foreign Ministry.

“We at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
are constantly looking at ways to conduct relations beyond traditional
diplomacy,” Ayalon said. “To this end, we conduct a form of environmental
diplomacy and try to apply it also within our own region, here in the Middle
East, and beyond.”

To achieve smoother relations, Israel must use its
highly developed tools to assist other countries in developing their water
infrastructures, according to the deputy foreign minister.

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“Israel is
among the leading states in the world in water technologies and is willing to
share its knowledge and experience with other countries so that together we can
provide for the increasing needs of the world’s ever-growing population,” he
said.

One country particularly present at this year’s exhibition is
China, which has sent an “unprecedented” number of delegates to WATEC – 24
groups, consisting of more than 200 people and representing more than 130
commercial companies, research institutes and government offices, are attending
the event, according to a statement from the Industry, Trade and Labor
Ministry.

The total number of Chinese visitors is higher than that of any
other country’s delegation and coincides with a significant increase in trade
with the Asian nation, which amounted to $6.8 billion in 2010 – an increase of
49 percent over the previous year, the ministry reported.

“Israel sees in
China as one of the most important trade partners to [our country], and the
Industry, Labor and Trade Ministry is investing great efforts to increase the
scope and the variety of trade with China and with other countries in Asia,”
Regional Development Minister Silvan Shalom said in a statement.

The
statement added that the ministry was signing an agreement of cooperation on
water issues with the Chinese city of Tianjin later in the
day.

Meanwhile, National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau announced
during WATEC’s opening session that the government would be investing NIS 700
million over the next five years in developing sewage infrastructure for the
periphery.

“These days, while a revolution goes on in the Middle East,
Israel’s water sector is also going through one, and at a period in which
amounts of rain are dwindling, we provide water to our neighbors,” Landau
said.

“We want to see our neighbors solve their water problems, develop
economies and democracy,” he added. “We are certain that this development is a
significant milestone that will help bring peace with our neighbors.”

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